The following are highlights from Xtreme Mayhem's interview with Buff Bagwell! The interview was conducted by "The Xtreme Icon" Mike Nagel and "The California Cheapskate" Jeff Meacham! This is the last interview before Xtreme Mayhem's one-year anniversary show! Listen to the interview by clicking on one of the links below, or by visiting http://xtreme.themayhem.com/ which contains the current show plus archived shows! The latest show also includes a trivia match between Jeff Meacham and listener Vampirorulz!
- Buff talked about the death of Road Warrior Hawk. "I've been with him a bunch with the Ted DiBiase stuff. I just saw him the other day. You know, it's like a curse man. It's the damndest thing I've seen. It's unreal. A guy's gone that shouldn't be gone." He talked about the last church show they did where 600 people got saved. He said that 20-30 people to be saved is considered unreal. Hawk was in a skit where he was chained up and demons came out. Buff said that Hawk did it so well, and he went from that to dying and Buff said that it has blown him away.
- He talked to WWE a couple of weeks ago, and they gave him a figure nowhere near what he could afford. "I told Vince, don't get mad at this. I can't live on that. The figure I'd give you, you would say, gosh I'm crazy. It's a figure that I'm used to living on. These kids don't know that 100 grand is not that much money with their road. I mean taxes, and training, and tanning, eating right, limos, rent-a-cars, on the road all the time. Then you come home with chump change and you shoot yourself in the meanwhile. You're breaking even and breaking your back. They got the kids up there that just want to be on TV, you know like TNA. There are guys in TNA that don't even get paid. Being a star on TV ain't what it's about, it's about paying my bills and living. I'm Mark Bagwell, I know the difference between Buff and Mark and a lot of guys don't." Buff said that in order to look the way wrestlers like him look, it costs $100 a day on the road when you're careful. That's with doing things such as cramming guys in cars and hotel rooms.
- They talked about wrestling's decline in business. Buff said that if Vince could, he would buy a wrestling company just to compete with his, but because of the internet things like that wouldn't work anymore. Buff said that bringing back the big names doesn't make much impact when there is no competition. He talked about how every match needs a person coming out who is a star and the fans shouldn't be saying "who is that?" at the person that comes out.
- Buff discussed the Vince/Stephanie match. "If all they would have done was show vignettes, I would have bought it and been so excited. But they showed them too much. And you realize this isn't going to be a good match."
- Buff talked about Smackdown and how a few weeks ago he saw three of the best matches he had ever seen. He brought up again how most of the guys involved got no reaction, and the crowd only popped because the match was unreal. "Fans would say that was a hell of a match, now who were those guys? Now if they knew those guys and that match, you'd be talking money." Buff said that RAW is more like how Nitro was, while the guys on Smackdown work their butts off more.
- Buff said that Scott Steiner was never a babyface. "In the ring, he wants to be a killer. And he is a killer. He looks like a killer. Make him a killer." He talked about the Steiner and Test feud. "I'll get heat for this, but what has Test ever done? Work-wise great. Looks great. But when he walks out, do people pop?" Buff said that Goldberg can work, but his matches haven't been that good because he isn't used to working with the guys in WWE. He said a match between Goldberg and Steiner would be really good because they have worked together before.
- They talked about some of the wrestlers that could become big stars. Buff said that Batista has the look, but he thinks that Randy Orton is too thin. "They want to see a freak come out and have a hell of a match." Buff feels like WWE is forcing things that they know aren't going to work.
- Buff talked about he is keeping busy and how he is booked with indy shows through May. He talked about some of his upcoming dates. His website is down right now, but we'll get some more information on his schedule.
- Other topics were discussed such as wrestlers being green, getting non-fans interested in wrestling, what needs to be done to make new stars, people not wanting to pay for wrestling, wrestlers who are over that aren't being pushed, wrestlers not being ready for television, and much more! The entire interview runs 60+ minutes and gives you a look at the wrestling business from an insider's perspective!
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